Surly Furious

Brewed By: Surly Brewing in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota

Purchased: 16oz CAN bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: India Pale Ale, 6.2%

Reported IBUs: 99

Surly brewing is back! That is to say, they were at one time available in Chicago, and then they weren't. And now they are again. Woo-hoo. About Surly Brewing: 

The Surly Brewing company is a brewery based out of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The brewery was founded in 2005 by long time homebrewer Omar Ansari with the help of Todd Haug (Minneapolis's Rock Bottom Brewery). For more info, check out the brewery's about page.

Tonight's beer, Surly Furious, is an envelope-pushing IPA. Punching in at an insane 99 IBUs compared to the 6.2% ABV, this IPA is brewed with a blend of American hops and Scottish malts. Using a malt base of Pale Ale malt, Golden Promise, Aromatic, Medium Crystal, and Roasted Barley; and Warrior, Ahtanum, Simcoe, Amarillo hops; this beer is fermented with English Ale yeast. 

Surly Furious

The can says, "beer for a glass, from a can." So, of course, I poured it into the glass can. Anyway, this pours a fairly dark amber/brown/copper color, and kicks up a couple of fingers of copper-tinted head. The head is soapy and leaving lots of lacing, as per your typical IPA. In bright light, the beer looks much the same, with spotty carbonation (if any) and some chill haze or yeast sediment mucking things up.

The aroma is solid. I'm getting a lot of pine, resinous hops, and tons of herbal/floral spice. Lots of peppery/zesty hop spice in this...like, minty, peppery, coriander, fennel, and tons of pine. There's some grapefruit and grapefruit rind as well.

The taste follows through with the aroma, and adds two awesome components: tropical fruit and guava, and some nice malt backing. This is surprisingly malty. I'm getting lots of pine, minty/peppery grapefruit zest spice and rye spice, tons of fruity tropical fruits and guava, and a huge bready malt component that imparts some grain and toast and bread into the mix. 

This beer is stupid crushable. I'm sure the 99 IBUs are in here somewhere, but they don't assert themselves too much, at least not over the malt backing and huge hop flavors. The body is medium to full-bodied, with lots of nice carbonation. The sticky-sweet is held perfectly in balance, and palate depth is off the charts good. Complexity is not far behind. I'm drinking this near room temp, but I'm getting lots of bready/rye spice (almost like an Imperial Red Ale), followed by sweet citrus, guava, tropical fruits, pine; the back end rolls into more peppery/herbal spice, and trails with toast and bread and all that awesome stuff.

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

This is a Strong Above-Average. It reminds me a lot of another brewery that makes spectacular IPAs, which is Lagunitas. Super drinkable, very balanced, and you get all 16oz in a can...hawt damn I'd stock my fridge with this on the regular. Food pairings: American food. We're talking burgers, nachos, tacos, and the like. 

Random Thought: I'm le tired. So fucking tired. Thank you 4-day weekends.